DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH?

What You Can Do to Become a Better Language Learner

So, you want to improve your English? At your age and level of language learning, there are some things you can't change. For example, you can't change ...

- the innate language learning ability that you were or were not born with;

- your ability to distinguish between different sounds and your ability to make them;

- your power of memorization and recall.

However, there are many things you CAN do, and the first and most important thing is to try to change your attitudes about using and speaking English. For example, you can try ...

- not to be embarrassed about making mistakes;

- to be more outgoing and take more social initiative;

- to ask questions when you do not understand something;

- to greet your English teacher rather than crossing to the other side of the road;

- to get into the habit of asking other Chinese-English bilinguals the question, "How do you say ______in English?" or 'What does ______mean?";

- to make opportunities to practice your English (and not just wait for them to come along or expect others to make them for you);

- to commend yourself for every extra effort you make to use your English;

- to have fun with your English instead of just studying and worrying about it;

- to stop saying either to yourself or others, "Oh dear, my English is poor. It will never improve!" It will improve, but only if you use it!

In your efforts to improve your English, it may be helpful for you to understand what the differences are between the Not-So-Good Learner and the Good Language Learner:

The Not-So-Good Learner* ...

  1. Doesn't try to say anything he or she doesn't know how to say;
  2. Avoids making mistakes so as not to appear foolish;
  3. Pays little attention to form, and fails to note patterns;
  4. Pays little attention to his or her own speech or the speech of others;
  5. Relies too much on grammar;
  6. Doesn't try to guess at meanings;
  7. Doesn't practice.

The Good Language Learner* ...

  1. Struggles hard to communicate, to get his or her message across;
  2. Is willing to make mistakes, even to appear foolish;
  3. Pays attention to form and looks for patterns in the language;
  4. Monitors his or her own speech and the speech of others, checking for mistakes and deviations from intended meaning;
  5. Pays attention to meaning, knowing that grammar and the surface forms of speech are not in themselves sufficient to decode the message;
  6. IS willing to make guesses;
  7. Practice.

Joan Rubin "What the 'Good Language Learner' Can Teach Us" TOEFL Quarterly, 1975, 9, 41-50. Adapted by the Language Centre, University of Hong Kong.

By now you may be saying to yourself, "That's all very interesting, but what do I do? It all sounds so abstract. Give me some practical suggestions please!"

To be quite honest, you probably know many ways to improve your English already, but since they are good ways, let us repeat them here. You can a lso find many other suggestions in the other ELT Unit Fact Sheets (e.g. on pronunciation, listening, speaking, reading ...) Think about the following suggestions for using your English and find some that seem right for you. If you get into a regular habit of doing these things- and if you have right attitude towards trying to improve your English--then using these habits will certainly show results.

Here are some things you can do on your own (for little or no money) to improve your English. You can:

- Read the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Standard (available in all CUHK libraries). This will help improve your vocabulary which will be useful later in your reading, writing, listening and speaking.

- Read magazines, such as Far East Economic Review, TIME, and Newsweek. These will help broaden your knowledge so that you'll have more to write and talk about.

- Read something just for FUN - mysteries, science fiction, or romance and find a friend who wants to do it too so you can discuss the stories.

- Try to read the English part of signs or menus rather than the Chinese so you'll know how things should be said in English.

- Keep a diary or journal in English- 2 or 3 times a week if you don't have time to do it everyday. Speak English into a tape recorder rather than writing it.

- Get a pen-pal and write letters to him or her in English. Write to a former exchange student after he or she has returned home. This will familiarize you with the more idiomatic English of university students in other countries.

- Try a new kind of writing - maybe a story, a poem, or a short dialogue. Keep it for yourself if you don't care to show it to anyone else. Or if you wish, set up a "workshop" group and share your work with others and get their comments.

- Keep a list of problem areas or new words to study and learn. These words may be things you've come across in your listening or in your reading, or just glance through a dictionary and find words that intrigue you.

- Use an English dictionary rather than a Chinese/English- English/Chinese one. Learn the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) so you can sound out words you don't know.

Finally, a few general guidelines which you can consider in setting up a plan for self study to improve your Spoken English:

  1. Your chances of sticking to your plan will be greater if you incorporate it as much as possible into your daily routine rather than trying to set aside a special time for self study. For example, listen to the news while you are having your breakfast. Read a news article while you are on the train. Write a sentence or two in your notebook while waiting for the bus.
  2. Make a realistic plan. Promise yourself that you will spend 10 minutes a day reading a book for fun rather than spending a whole hour. There will undoubtedly be many days when you just can't afford that whole hour. Plan to spend half an hour a week watching English television rather than half an hour a night if you know that other family members may have different plans for the TV set. (Ask for their understanding on your night.)
  3. Be supportive of your own efforts. Don't keep telling yourself that your English is poor. Tell yourself that you are taking constructive steps to improve and that slowly these improvements will become more obvious.
  4. Remember that at your stage of language learning, improvement does come more slowly and is not immediately obvious. When you were in Primary 1, learning one word in English was a major step forward- but learning one more word now is only a small drop in a large bucket of water. Gradually, however, the bucket will become full.
  5. Keep telling yourself that communication is more important than perfect grammar. Be willing to make mistakes and then to learn from them. Some people are so worried about making a mistake that they are afraid to open their mouths. As long as you can communicate and the other person can understand, you are putting language to its most important use.

So... try to think about your language learning efforts in the ways that we have described here. If you have the right attitude as the foundation of your efforts to improve, then the rest will come all the more easily. Go on to other ELT Unit Fact Sheets for further suggestions in areas that are of particular interest to you. Good luck. The fact that you have read this sheet is in itself an indication that you will succeed!